The Jungle Book (1977)
The Jungle Book is a 1967 animated feature film, released on October 22, 1967. it was the last to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. It was inspired by the stories about the feral child Mowgli from the book of the same name by Rudyard Kipling. The movie remains one of Disney's most popular, and contained a number of classic songs, including "The Bare Necessities" and "I Wan'na Be Like You". Most of the songs are by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. The film was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and his son, Bruce Reitherman, provided Mowgli's voice. Plot For six years, Mowgli (Bruce Reitherman) is found in a small boy In the half a boat in the middle of a river; so it is most likely that his parents were washed downstream and drowned. Bagheera (Sebastian Cabot), the panther who discovers the boy, promptly takes him to a Indian Wolf who has just had cubs. She raises him along with her own cubs and Mowgli soon becomes well acquainted to jungle life. Mowgli is shown ten years later, visiting the wolves and getting his face licked eagerly when he arrives. That night, when the wolf tribe learns that has returned to the jungle, they realize that Mowgli must be taken to the man village, to protect him and those around him. Bagheera volunteers to escort him back. They leave that very night, but since Mowgli is determined to stay in the jungle things go a little astray. The next morning, Mowgli tries to join the elephant patrol led by Hathi (J. Pat O'Malley). he even tried out on marching. During the inspection, they had to raise their trunks. Mowgli did the same thing. After that Mowgli and Bagheera get in an argument and then Mowgli runs away from Bagheera. Mowgli soon meets up with the fun-loving bear Baloo (Phil Harris), who shows Mowgli the fun of having a care-free life and promises not to take him to the man village. Mowgli now wants to stay in the jungle more than ever. Before long, Mowgli is caught by a gang of monkeys and taken to their leader, King Louie (Louis Prima) the orangutan, who makes a deal with Mowgli that if he tells him the secret of making red fire like a human, then he would make it so he could stay in the jungle. However, since he was not raised by humans, Mowgli doesn't know how to make fire. King Louie doesn't believe him. Mowgli is rescued from King Louie by Bagheera and Baloo, but soon runs away from them after Baloo realizes the man village is best for the boy and breaks his promise. After Mowgli runs away, Baloo and Bagheera split up to find him. Mowgli is lost so he can go hunting for him. Kaa, a hungry Indian Python (Sterling Holloway) hypnotizes Mowgli into a deep and peaceful sleep, and tries to eat him, but thanks to the intervention of Shere Khan, a man-eating tiger (George Sanders), Mowgli escapes. He encounters a group of solemn vultures (J. Pat O'Malley, Digby Wolfe, Lord Tim Hudson and Chad Stuart), who closely resemble the Beatles, and they say they'll be his friend. The vultures very comically argue about "what do you want to do?" and would side track Mowgli with their pointless arguments. Shere Khan appears shortly after, but when Baloo rushes to the rescue, together they manage to get rid of the ruthless tiger, when Mowgli ties a flaming stick on his tail (the stick was from a tree struck by lightning). Bagheera and Baloo take him to the edge of a man-village, but Mowgli is still hesitant to go in. His mind soon changes when a young girl from the village comes down by the riverside to fetch water. After noticing the boy, she "accidentally" drops her water pot, and Mowgli retrieves it for her and follows her into the man village. After Mowgli chooses to stay in the man village, Baloo and Bagheera decide to head home while singing a reprise of "The Bare Necessities". ''The Jungle Book'' theatrical release history US release dates *October 18, 1967 (original release) *June 9, 1978 *July 27, 1984 *July 13, 1990 = ''The Jungle Book'' home video release history *October 31, 1987 (VHS) (Mexico only) *May 3, 1991 (VHS) *February 13, 1992 (Laserdisc) *October 14, 1997 (VHS) *October 27, 1997 (Laserdisc) *December 7, 1999 (DVD - Limited Issue) *October 2, 2007 (DVD - 40th Anniversary Edition) ''Releases'' The Jungle Book was released in the United States on VHS in 1991 as part of the Walt Disney Classics product line. The American version was subsequently re-released in 1997 as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection for the film's 30th anniversary. A Gold Classic Collection DVD was released by Walt Disney Home Video in 2000. The film was released once again as a 2-disc Platinum Edition DVD on October 2, 2007 to commemorate its 40th anniversary. The Platinum Edition presents the film for the first time in 1.75:1 fullscreen aspect ratio. Characters Major Characters * Mowgli, voiced by Bruce Reitherman: the main character, a young jungle human raised by wolves. In the movie, Mowgli is featured as a 10 year old, which is around the age he was in Rudyard Kipling's book when he was first captured by the Bandar Log (monkeys). In the book, Mowgli managed to escape his parent's camp when they were attacked by Shere Khan the tiger, and he entered the wolves' den by himself. In the movie, he is found by Bagheera in a wrecked boat, perhaps after the attack of a crocodile, and Bagheera himself takes him to the wolves. * Baloo, voiced by Phil Harris: a Bear who befriends Mowgli. He lives life according to his own rhythm. Baloo becomes Mowgli's best friend, and somewhat of a father figure to him, much to the annoyance of Bagheera who believes him to be an irresponsible and careless character. He was originally meant to be a minor character in the film. Baloo's design was obviously based on grizzly bears, even though these bears do not exist in India; however, Baloo does possess the more prominent, sloth-like claws distinctive to the Sloth bear. In Kipling's book, Baloo is said to be a "sleepy serious old brown bear" and was a more strict and conservative character. * Bagheera, voiced by Sebastian Cabot: a Black Panther who first finds Mowgli, they become good friends. In the book, Bagheera spoiled Mowgli and was more of a mother figure to him, despite being male, but in the movie he is depicted as a smart, serious and often severe (though never violent) mentor that only wants to take Mowgli to safety. * Shere Khan, voiced by George Sanders: a Tiger and the main antagonist of the movie. He is a known hater of man and seeks to kill Mowgli. Unlike the book version, the movie's Shere Khan is not crippled and is perceived as a very powerful character, feared by all other animals. * Kaa, voiced by Sterling Holloway: an Python Snake around 9 meters long, As in Kipling's book, he has great hypnotic powers; however in stark contrast to the book, he is depicted as a somewhat comic and antagonistic character and during the movie manages to hypnotize Mowgli twice once. He even tries to hypnotize Shere Khan, but fails. * King Louie, voiced by Louis Prima: an Orangutan who lives in an ancient ruined temple, he captures Mowgli so he can teach him the secret of fire. He was one of the characters created for the movie, for he doesn't appear in Kipling's book. He and his followers do share many similarities with the monkey-people of the original book, however. * Colonel Hathi, voiced by J. Pat O'Malley: an Asian Elephant and leader of the elephant troop who is very pompous. A running gag in the movie is that Hathi says "elephants never forget", yet he manages to forget many things, including his own son. In the movie, Hathi seems to be a war elephant used in the Maharajah's army, who escaped to the jungle or was released. He recalls his days as a war elephant as his golden age and often talks about it, much to the annoyance of the other elephants. * Buzzy, Ziggy, Flaps and Dizzy, voiced by J. Pat O'Malley, Digby Wolfe, Lord Tim Hudson and Chad Stuart respectively: four vultures, tightly based on "The Beatles". They befriend Mowgli because, according to them, they are all outcasts. In the Latin American dubbing of the movie, the vultures have each a particular accent; Spanish, Mexican, Argentinian and Cuban. Buzzy is bald, Ziggy has frizzy brown hair, Flaps has parted blond hair, and Dizzy has black hair that covers his eyes. * Junior, voiced by Dakota Fanning: the young son of Colonel Hathi who becomes friends with Mowgli. * Rama, voiced by Ben Wright: an Indian Wolf who adopts Mowgli into his family. * Akela, voiced by John Abbott: the leader of the wolf pack. Minor Characters * Winifred, voiced by Verna Felton: the wife of Colonel Hathi and the only talking female animal in the movie. She gets bored hearing her husband's "Victoria Cross bit" over and over. At one point, it is revealed that she cares a lot about Mowgli and convinces her husband (Col. Hathi) to save Mowgli from being lost, or she'd take over the Elephant herd. * The Elephants, are the many Elephants that are in Col. Hathi's herd of Elephants. They often get tired of the Colonel, and often tell Winifred and each other. One Elephant said "I'm putting in a transfer to another herd". Though they are very loyal, they don't like marching or doing missions, but are very strong and well-skilled. * The Girl, voiced by Darleen Carr: a young Indian girl who lures Mowgli out of the jungle at the end of the movie. She was simply referred to as "The Girl" in the film's credits, but her name is revealed to be Shanti in the 1991 sequel, The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story, where she is voiced by Mae Whitman. * Bandar-log : The monkey clan that took Mowgli to King Louie, so King Louie can ask Mowgli to tell him about red fire. * The Seonee Pack: The wolf pack that cares for Mowgli in his first 10 years. It is unknown if this is actually the name of the pack, but it's possible since that was the name in the book. * Raksha : The mother wolf she raises Young Mowgli in his first 6 years. Mowgli grew up in 10 years old had better the little wolf cubs. * Wolf Cubs : Mowgli grow up with the wolf pups, Then tackling and licks Mowgli. They not barking sounds. Awards The film received an Academy Award nomination in 1967http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1215147249619: *Best Song for "The Bare Necessities". (Lost against "Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Dolittle). Crew members * Produced and Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and Bill Justice * Directing animators Frank Thomas Milt Kahl, Ollie Johnston, and Wolfgang Reitherman, * Art Director Ken Anderson * Layouts by Basil Davidovich and Vance Gerry * Color styling by Ralph Hulett * Character Animation Milt Kahl and Bill Peet * Music by George Bruns * Songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman with Terry Gilkyson Category:Films